


The Cure for Neglect (Revisited)

by Nightshade_Blaize



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (eventually)- freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy, adopted fanfic (original chapters reposted with original authors permission)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 09:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightshade_Blaize/pseuds/Nightshade_Blaize
Summary: Two months ago, a very drunk Gabriel Agreste showed up at Nathalie's door and spent the night in her bed.Now, she's dealing with the consequences of it.(Adopted from original author. Chapters 1-16 reposted with their blessing)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nathalie Sancoeur, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/Nathalie Sancoeur, Nadja Chamack & Nathalie Sancoeur
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34
Collections: GabeNath Book Club and Art Club Server





	1. disclaimer and a bit of an explanation owed

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Cure for Neglect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057005) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> this work is gifted to the members of the GabeNath fandom, past and present. Without whom, many of these incredible works would remain lost to time. However I would like to extend a hand to the two who originated this idea, thank you both, and thank you to the original author who permitted this to take place

hi! I adopted this work a while back and just got around to posting it to my own account. part of the reason it took so long was I was weighing my options on how to post it. ultimately the decision was made, with the original authors blessing, for me to edit and repost the original chapters as I'm taking the story in a slightly different direction, while still remaining as true as I can to their vision. the original draft of The Cure for Neglect can be found here https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057005/chapters/42674960 . I'm grateful to have this opportunity to bring you guys a revitalized telling of this story and bring it to its thrilling conclusion.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deceit, betrayal, revelation, and a choice

The past month and a half had been hell for Nathalie. She was normally good at her job—exceptionally excellent, in fact—but for the past month and a half, she just hadn’t been able to keep on top of things she could normally have handled on instinct. More days than not, no matter how much coffee she had, her brain succumbed to a thick fog that made it impossible to keep her mind on the task at hand.

Of course, as of this morning she now knew why, but it didn’t make her situation any easier. Then again, what needed to happen next as a direct result wouldn’t be easy either.

The doorbell rang, snapping her attention back to her work.

“Yes?”

The young woman outside stammered out something about being in Adrien’s class and held up a present, and Nathalie opened the mailbox for her. When Nathalie returned to her station at her desk, Mr. Agreste’s voice came echoing through the intercom.

“Who was that?” he snapped.

“A friend of Adrien’s. She wanted to give him a gift for his birthday.”

“Did you remember to buy him a present from me?”

Nathalie stammered awkwardly, having been unexpectedly caught off guard by her boss. She grasped at what to say, now that she had figured out what exactly had causing her exhaustion and a sense of mind. “Uh… but… you didn’t ask me to,” she got out.

Chances were that he hadn’t… but she had purchased a gift from Mr. Agreste for Adrien’s past three birthdays, and she should have anticipated the request this year, too. At least when Emilie had still been around, Adrien had been able to count on one parent to get him a gift that mattered.

“Of course I did!” Mr. Agreste snapped.

“Yes, Mr. Agreste! I’ll take care of it.” She would find the time somehow, despite her exhaustion. And then her eye caught on the present on her desk, unlabeled, and in a box held shut only by ribbon, and she picked it up with a sigh of relief. Hopefully whatever was inside it would do.

The doorbell chimed again, another of Adrien’s friends, intent on seeing Adrien’s father. Nathalie tried not to roll her eyes as the boy faced down Mr. Agreste. The child was right, of course; Adrien did deserve a chance at normalcy, at a party with his friends, but this was exactly the wrong way for him to go about convincing Adrien’s father that it was a good idea. The man could out-stubborn anyone, and he had a perverse streak a mile long.

When Adrien’s friend—Nino, that was the boy’s name—left, Adrien followed him for a moment, and Nathalie took the opportunity to follow Gabriel up the stairs. “Sir, could I have a word?”

“Not now, Nathalie.”

“It’s important.”

“So is this.” And he was through the door of his office, shutting and locking it behind him.

Nathalie sighed and returned to her desk. She had been trying to have the little chat with him that she needed to have all day, but he had been busy, and so had she. But before she could sit back down at her desk, a bubble came through the window, pulling her out with it.

“Well,” she said to herself. “I suppose if I won’t be doing anything else today….”  
For a lack of anything better to do, she took a nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the miraculous power of the Ladybug spread across the city, returning Nathalie to her desk, she had forgotten all about Adrien’s present. It was only Mr. Agreste asking whether his son liked his gift that reminded her.

She felt a little guilty, crumpling up the post-it that had appeared on the front of the present, labeling it as from Marinette, but the expression of joy on Adrien’s face helped her set her guilt aside… and she now had an excuse to go have that face-to-face conversation with Mr. Agreste that she’d been trying—and failing—to have all day. She patted her pocket, making sure the plastic bag and its contents were still secure there. With a final deep breath to calm her nerves she straightened her spine and made for his office.

She knocked on the door, then entered without waiting for a response. If she waited, she would lose the courage to do this.

“What do you want?” Mr. Agreste didn’t look up from the screen in front of him.

Nathalie pushed the door shut behind her. “Your son asked me to thank you for his gift.”

Mr. Agreste glanced up at that, obviously irritated. “You could have told me over the intercom.”

“We need to talk, sir.”

He frowned. “Has something gone wrong with the plans for the show in Milan?”

“No, as far as I’m aware, those plans are ticking along just fine, sir.”

“Then what?”

“It’s about…” Nathalie’s mouth clamped shut of its own accord, and she let out a hiss of breath through her teeth. She took a deep breath and relaxed her jaw, ignoring the strange look Mr. Agreste was giving her. She could almost believe it was concern.

“What is this about, Nathalie?” The irritation was still there, but tempered by something else.  
“Do you recall the incident two months ago? That night you…” she paused and corrected, “that night we…”

Mr. Agreste’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing and going hard. “I was drunk and made a mistake. We agreed not to mention that again.”

Nathalie had been standing just inside the door since entering, but now she crossed to stand on the other side the desk from Mr. Agreste. He watched her warily, but didn’t move. “And I wouldn’t, it’s just… there have been consequences, sir.”

He frowned. “Consequences?”

Nathalie sighed, and pulled the plastic bag out of her pocket, placing it on the desk between them.

Mr. Agreste stared down at the positive pregnancy test inside with an expression of growing horror on his face. “You’re sure…?”

“That it’s yours?” Nathalie let out a bitter little laugh. “Absolutely. You’re the only man that I’ve... well.” She shrugged awkwardly, avoiding his gaze. “I’m sure it’s yours. That’s all.”

“I see.” She could feel his eyes fixed on her, but still couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. So it was a bit of a shock when his hand came up under her chin, tilting her face upward and to the side so that she was forced to meet his eye. He had come around the desk to her side and was studying her, a deep frown forming creases between his eyebrows.

“Sir?”

“What do you want to do, Nathalie?”

Nathalie swallowed hard. “I was hoping you’d know, sir.”

“I…” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m a married man, Nathalie. No matter what my opinion is, it will be your life that this effects the most.”

Of course. Emilie Agreste was gone—or as good as gone—but she was far from forgotten, and for a moment Nathalie had forgotten that. She lifted her chin, staring Mr. Agreste down, her courage suddenly returning to her in the face of his cowardice. “And if I choose to carry through with it?”

A strange expression crossed Mr. Agreste’s face. If she didn’t know better, she would think it was almost hopeful. “If you would allow me to…”

Nathalie frowned and took a step back, pulling away from him. “Are you saying that you would want to be a father, if I kept the child?”

He gave her a slight nod and made a little noise of affirmation.

Nathalie eyed him dubiously. “Forgive me, sir, but you aren’t exactly doing a stellar job of parenting the child you already have. I’d rather be a single mother than subject any child of mine to that sort of neglect.”

He flinched, but didn’t try to deny her accusation.

“I’m not sure why I bothered telling you,” Nathalie heard herself say bitterly. “I know what you’re like.”

“Nathalie, I…” he looked suddenly helpless.

“You were right about one thing, though. This is something I can only decide on my own.” And, her spine still ramrod straight, Nathalie turned away from Mr. Agreste and left his office, listening for his footsteps behind her and hearing nothing.

She just wished she could have given in to the satisfaction of slamming his office door behind her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel gets the opportunity to reflect

Gabriel stared at the closed door of his office, instinctively reaching under his necktie to touch the gem that was pinned there, his brow furrowed in thought. After a moment, a small, timid voice broke the silence.

“She was very angry, Master,” Nooroo said quietly.

“Yes, Nooroo, she is very angry with me right now.”

“You're not going to…?”

The kwami’s implied meaning broke Gabriel out of his reverie, and he dropped his hand immediately and went back around his desk, trying to figure out where he had left off in his work. “Of course not.”

He ignored Nooroo’s sigh of relief. Did the kwami truly think him so heartless that he would akumatize a pregnant woman?

Probably, Gabriel realized. After all, how did he truly know he hadn't before?

Gabriel looked down at the half-finished design on the screen in front of him and let out a snort of disgust, discarding it. No. That wasn't right at all. He sank into the rhythm of working, sketching dress after dress… and finding fault with every one of them.

Well, clearly his own mental state was just as troubled as Nathalie’s had obviously been. How dare she accuse him of neglecting Adrien? ‘But’ he thought soberly to himself, ‘how could she not draw such a conclusion?’ When Emilie had been here, she had made it easy for the three of them to be a family, but as she had faded, Gabriel had found it harder and harder to spend time with the boy. After all, Adrien looked so much like his mother.

But one set of words was seared into his mind above all the rest, above her accusation of neglect, above the sudden revelation that their shared night together—a night he'd been trying and miserably failing to forget—had had consequences. What had Nathalie meant, when she had said “You’re the only man that I’ve…”

How would that sentence have ended? Surely she hadn’t been implying that he was the only man she had ever slept with. A woman who looked like her… she was only five years younger than him, for god’s sake. He couldn't have been the only one.

Or had he been?

Gabriel had never been much of one to pay attention to his employee’s personal lives, but as he reflected on the past decade of Nathalie working with him, he was filled with a dull horror. Never once had Nathalie left early when he still needed her. Never once had she shirked her duty when things got unexpectedly busy. She had had the flu once, and even then, she had only taken just enough time off to recover fully, and had run his entire life electronically all the while.

Her work had left him with plenty of time for his family, back when Emilie had still been there. But now that he was thinking it over, it couldn't possibly have left Nathalie with any time at all for a relationship of her own.

God. Had he really taken his personal assistant’s virginity?

He didn't remember all that much of the night he'd spent with her. Just flashes, coming to her door, the feeling of the bare skin of her hip under his hand, the press of her body against his, a memory of waking up in the morning in her bed with Nathalie resting beside him, the dark marks of a sleepless night under her eyes, her hair lightly tangled, the dark marks of love bites on her neck. He obviously hadn't been gentle with her that night, and had given free rein to every bit of reluctant and thoroughly repressed attraction he felt for her.

She had woken up as he was getting dressed, had agreed with him that obviously there was no need for them to ever mention this again. And in the two months since then, she’d done an admirable job of working with him as if nothing of the sort had ever happened. And he’d done the same, even though the sharp stab of guilt he now felt every time he looked at her had made him even more snappy with her than usual.

Gabriel put his stylus down with a sharp click and stumbled over to a chair, slumping back in it. Clearly his thoughts were too disordered for work. He absentmindedly fingered the brooch under his necktie, taking the pulse of the city around him. Another akuma would be a handy distraction just now, if he could just find the right person…

But nothing was standing out to him. Perhaps it was because his own emotional turmoil was too strong, washing out everyone else’s emotions in comparison like a wave upon the sand.

Perhaps it was because he was starting to get tired. Tired of feeling the negative emotions of other people, tired of fighting, tired of losing, again and again.

But Gabriel couldn’t give up. He had promised Emilie that he would find a way to cure her, and he would. Somehow. Whatever it took. He needed her.

Being a father had never come naturally to him, but Emilie had made it easy to pretend that it did. She had always made sure that he ate his meals with his family—or at least when she wasn’t off on a film shoot. And even then, Adrien would come and find him, pull him away from his studio when it was time for dinner.

When had Adrien given that up? Had it been during Emilie’s long sickness, as she slipped away from the world, bit by bit until only her nearly lifeless body remained? Gabriel couldn’t remember, now.

He stood and returned to his workstation, noting the time displayed in the corner of the screen with a touch of chagrin. Nathalie must have gone home by now. Adrien would have eaten his supper hours ago, had most likely gone to bed.

Had he even wished his son a happy birthday?

He shut his workstation down and left his studio, heading towards Adrien’s room. A light was still on, a promising sign.

Gabriel lifted his hand. He stood there, fist raised, hovering a bare inch above the surface of Adrien’s door for a full minute, willing himself to knock.  
And then he sighed and and lowered his hand and left, heading towards his own bedroom instead.

Tomorrow. He would figure out how to begin again with his son tomorrow. One day more would not be the end of the world. After all, Adrien seemed to be doing just fine without Gabriel bumbling in and attempting to make small talk with his stranger of a son.

When had his son become a stranger?


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit with a friend and a determined decision

After spending the rest of the afternoon working fervently from her personal desk, Nathalie had reached the end of her required work day and had left without bothering to inform Gabriel she was finished for the day. Her phone buzzed as she exited the gate of the Agreste mansion, and she pulled it out. She’d texted Nadja shortly after her confrontation with Mr. Agreste; it had been a while since she and Nadja had had a chance to get together and catch up, but right now she really needed advice, and had added some urgency to her usual “Are you free for lunch this weekend?” text.

‘Come over now. Bring dessert?’

Nathalie smiled. The main advantage of a friendship with one of the only women in the city who was usually just as busy as she was herself, was that neither of them took last-minute excuses to duck out of a hang-out personally… because they knew that if the other person really needed them, they’d find a way to be there.

‘Does Manon still like profiteroles?’

‘She says to tell you to bring twice as many as last time.’

‘I don’t think she remembers how many I brought last time. Be there in ten.’

Nathalie scrolled down her contacts and found the closest bakery, the one that most of the baked goods that weren’t produced by the Agreste Mansion’s own pastry chef came from. She placed a call and gave her most apologetic voice when the owner answered. 

“I know you close in five minutes, but if you could have a dozen profiteroles ready for me, I’ll be in and out before you need to shut your door.”

“Of course, Nathalie. They’ll be on the counter and waiting.”

This was one of the many advantages afforded to her by working for a wealthy man. Advantages she would definitely miss, if the pregnancy remained viable… should she decide that she did in fact to keep this child. She couldn’t imagine being a single mother—a single mother to the child of Gabriel Agreste particularly—and still having the time to work for the Agreste family. She had seen what having an absent mother and a barely-present father had done to Adrien. She could never bring herself do anything of the sort to her own child. 

Of course, following that train of thought, that meant there would be the problem of finding a new job, but Nathalie decided she could deal with that particular issue later. After all, based on the research she’d done, she wasn’t very far along. The pregnancy might end on its own and allow her to move on with her life.

Ten minutes later she was ensconced in Nadja Chamak’s apartment, with six profiteroles between the two of them and the other half-dozen in front of Manon, on a table in front of the tv where she was watching a cartoon.

“How have you been?”

“Busy. Well, with the whole superhero situation… The news has gotten a lot more exciting over the past few months.”

“How has Manon been coping with it?”

Nadja sighed and set down the profiterole she’d just picked up. “All right, I think? She’s been acting out more. I have a fairly reliable babysitter, and Manon likes her, but…” she sighed again. “I’m just hoping my pitch for a show of my own works. I don’t mind doing street reporting, but it takes a lot of time, and I could cut down on it and be around for Manon more, if I had a show of my own.”

Nathalie studied her friend quietly as Nadja took a bite of the profiterole she’d been toying with. Was she up to this kind of balancing act herself? She didn’t know if she could manage work and a child.

“How about you? How have you been doing?” Nadja asked into the silence.  
Nathalie glanced over at Manon before answering. Good. The girl was still enthralled by the cartoon and showed no interest in the two of them, though it appeared that the pile of profiteroles had already disappeared. 

“Pregnant,” Nathalie said, looking back to her friend.

“Oh.” Nadja blinked in surprise. “Oh. So I suppose that’s why you wanted to talk, then.”

Nathalie nodded.

“I take it the father…?”

Nathalie raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking as a friend, or are you digging for a story?”

Nadja looked offended. “As a friend. Though you do work for a wealthy, high-profile, reclusive man who has only ever appeared in public since his wife’s disappearance with you at his side, so I’m just warning you now, people are going to make the obvious assumptions when you start showing.”

That hadn’t occurred to Nathalie. “The father’s not in the picture,” she said abruptly, a defense backed up by the way her shoulders were squared. “Besides, I’m not even certain if I want to…” she placed her hand over her stomach.

Nadja nodded. “That’s understandable. I wouldn’t give Manon up for the world. But, well, you’re not me. I always wanted to be a mother, and you…”

“I always rolled my eyes at you and swore it would never be me, I remember.” Nathalie sighed. “But somehow, it’s like the choice isn’t quite as easy, now that it’s actually mine to make. On the one hand, I’d have to find a new job, staying at Gabriel is out of the question if I’m going to be raising a child. I’d have to completely rearrange my life, and that’s not a simple thing to contemplate, but on the other…”

Nadja was looking at her solemnly but with a hint of understanding. “You feel like you’re stuck in a rut, don’t you? And like this would be a good way for you to start over, completely. Find a new you.”

Nathalie opened her mouth to protest, but sighed again instead. “I don’t dislike the me I am. But I’m not sure that I fit in this space any more.”

Nadja nodded. “Having a child will change your life. For the better, hopefully, though I can’t promise that. But it’s a lot of work, having another person completely dependent on you.”

Nathalie laughed. “A subtle hint that maybe I ought to try finding a new job or changing my hairstyle, instead of giving birth, if I want to make some changes in my life?”

“Something like that.”

“Well.” Nathalie picked up one of the profiteroles and considered it. “I’ve got some time. And I’m not far enough along… it might end on its own, you know.”

Nadja nodded. She’d tried three times before Manon. “For what it’s worth, I think you would be a great mother.”

Nathalie froze with the profiterole halfway to her mouth. “You really think so?”

“I know so.” Nadja nodded “you’re already experienced in dealing with adult toddlers, maybe it’s time for you to try the real thing.” Both women laughed. 

“Are you guys going to eat the rest of those?” Manon appeared at the edge of the kitchen table, peering up over it at the four remaining profiteroles.

“You are going to wake up tonight with a stomachache,” Nadja said affectionately, reaching out and hugging Manon to her side.

Manon looked up at her mother with wide, pleading eyes. “I think I can fit one more in before I get a stomachache,” she said.

Nadja laughed, and selected the smallest of the four remaining desserts. “Here you go, little monkey. Back to your cartoon. Bedtime is coming up soon.”

Nathalie watched mother and child interact with her heart in her throat. Oh. _Oh_ , she wanted that, that casual affection, that unconditional love. It would change her entire life, probably for the worse, but it wouldn’t matter if she could give her child that. Even if it was difficult, even if her own parents hadn’t exactly given her a good example to follow.

Some part of her had stubbornly decided to keep the child out of spite when she’d been face to face with Mr. Agreste, when she’d realized what a mistake it was to tell him. To throw it in his face, that even someone so unsuited to be a parent as herself could do a better job than him, that all it took was a willingness to try. But just now, as she watched Manon cuddle up against Nadja for a moment, as she watched Nadja tease her daughter until Manon giggled and ran back to her station in front of the tv, Nathalie realized that she really wanted to have this child. Not to be petty toward Gabriel, but because she actually wanted to be a parent. 

Nadja smiled when she looked back at Nathalie. “You look like you’ve just made an important decision.”

Nathalie placed a hand over her stomach protectively and nodded. “If nothing happens… I’m going to make it work, that’s all. I want…” She wanted a family, she realized. Between her own fragmented childhood and her years spent with the Agreste family, she’d seen so many examples of how to do it wrong. She wanted to do it right, not just for her child but for herself. “I want this.”

Nadja lifted one of the remaining profiteroles in a mock toast. “Well, then, cheers to that. And if you need advice, I’m always here.”

“A good doctor would be a start.”

“I think I can find you one of those.”

Nathalie left Nadja’s apartment that evening with a glow of certainty… and a recommendation for the practice that still took care of Manon’s pediatric care.  
She would make this work.


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel is lonely

Nathalie usually came to Gabriel’s office first thing in the morning to go over his schedule with him, but this morning, he didn't think he could face her. Instead, he hid in the lair until he was certain that enough time had elapsed she would have moved on to Adrien and his schedule would just be an email.

Not his most dignified moment, Gabriel supposed. But he figured, at this point, he was probably beyond dignity or saving face where Nathalie was concerned, at least at the moment.

He had considered hiding in the underground garden that held Emilie, with its cathedral architecture and peaceful silence. But facing his wife, even with her in a magical coma, was also beyond him this morning. After all, it was his forgetting, for a short time, the devotion he owed Emilie as her husband that had gotten him into this mess.

Not just that, he reminded himself bitterly.

Truth was, he had been lonely. He was beginning to realize that he hadn't just lost Emilie as she had slipped away from him into her magical sleep. Somewhere along the way, he had lost his son as well. And the cutthroat world of fashion was not always the safest place to try and make friends. Acquaintances, yes; business partners even, but never friends.

There was the soft flutter of wings, and Nooroo was suddenly hovering at his shoulder. “Is something wrong, master?”The lavender Kwami folded his hands anxiously.

Gabriel felt like laughing and crying, all at once. Here his closest confidant was, a kwami he had enslaved, a creature who was forced by circumstance to listen to him. Just like everyone else who surrounded him. Adrien only listened to him because Gabriel was his father. Nathalie and everyone else under his employ only paid attention to him because he was paying them.

And Nooroo only paid attention to Gabriel because he gave the kwami no other choice.

“Master?”

Gabriel made a choked noise halfway between a sob and a scream of laughter and tore the Miraculous away from where it was pinned at his throat. There was a soft pop as the kwami disappeared back into the jewel and Gabriel fumbled the jewelry box he stored the pin in out of his pocket and put it safely away.

One day. He could go one day without being able to touch the emotions of everyone around him, without seeking out the darkest feelings that humanity had to offer to distract him from his own pain.

Gabriel felt unbalanced without the jewel at his throat, but he pushed through the feeling until he felt strong enough to return to his office and place the gem in the safe behind the painting of Emilie. He looked at the other contents of the safe; a blue and green brooch shaped like a peacock’s fan leaned against a photograph of his beloved Emilie, an ancient book in a language he didn’t understand sat next to them. On the opposite side, a drawing of their family that Adrien had made as a small child.

His son. Perhaps… perhaps Adrien had not yet left for school. Gabriel could-… No. By the time he made it to the top of the stairs, the front door was just closing behind Adrien. Nathalie turned and caught sight of him, and Gabriel clung to whatever remaining crumb of dignity he had and somehow didn’t give in to the urge to turn and flee back towards his office.

“Mr. Agreste.” Oh how he hated the dismissive, neutral tone of her voice. “Were you looking for me?”

“You haven’t gone over my schedule yet.” He grabbed at an excuse, any excuse to give her.

“You weren’t in your office this morning.” Nathalie’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but he heard it that way anyway. “And you do have access to your own calendar, sir.” Now that was definitely accusatory. Gabriel could see it in the way her eyebrow twitched. However, Nathalie began to ascend the stairs toward him.

He waited patiently at the top of the stairs until she had almost reached him and turned to precede her into his office. “I remember it better when you remind me.”

“Is that so.” She took up station at the corner of his desk and looked down at the tablet she was holding. “You have an e-meeting in fifteen minutes with the organizers in Milan. After that, you have advertisement proofs to review, then at noon you have a lunch…”

Gabriel allowed Nathalie’s words to wash over him. He noted meeting times in the back of his head as he did, but one advantage of the recluse he’d become was that no one cared when he ultimately teleconferenced in to every meeting, whether it was possible for him to attend in person or not. And his workstation provided him with regular alerts on his calendar, so it wasn’t as if he needed Nathalie to read his schedule off to him.   
  
He just liked the sound of her voice, as dry and factual as it always was when she was giving him his schedule for the day.

“And, since the chef tells me you never requested dinner last night, and I know you never remember breakfast, he’ll be sending something up shortly.” And you had better eat it, was the unspoken warning he heard in her voice.

Gabriel forced his attention back to the moment at hand. “Thank you, Nathalie.” 

She nodded and turned to leave, and he tried to call her back. He needed to talk to her. He needed to find out what she was planning to do, to offer her whatever assistance she would accept.

“Nathalie? Could you wait just one-.”

“Ten minutes until your meeting, sir,” she said over her shoulder as she left his office.

A runner from the kitchen—he didn’t even know the man’s name, Gabriel realized—appeared a few minutes later with breakfast: rolls and preserves, a selection of cheeses, a fruit salad, coffee and hot chocolate. And then, he was left to himself, as he had demanded to be so many times over the past year.

God, he was lonely.

He only made it to lunch before removing the Miraculous from the safe again. 

After all, an enslaved kwami as a companion was better than being alone.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A late night visit

It was a petty revenge to take, Nathalie reflected as she dodged every attempt Mr. Agreste took to have a private conversation with her that day. But oh, was it a sweet one. After all, she deserved some revenge after the cowardly way Mr. Agreste had behaved, both the day before and this morning —and two months ago, if she was being honest with herself, when he’d extracted a promise from her to never speak about the night he’d spent in her bed— and this revenge was so easily within her grasp. She knew his schedule better than even Gabriel, himself did, and even with a pregnancy-induced brain fog impairing her functionality, it was more than simple enough to always be in the middle of some call vital to the ongoing existence of Gabriel the brand whenever Gabriel the person managed to have a few spare minutes to come looking for her.  
  
Yes, it definitely was petty, but damn did it feel good to have the upper hand.

Unfortunately, now she would be paying dearly for her petty little game of revenge, she realized with a noise of dismay, as she peered through the peephole in her apartment door and realized it was Mr. Agreste who had just knocked. She hadn't expected him to take so drastic a step as to come to her home again. 

She kept the chain up as she opened the door and kept her ignorant personal assistant persona forced to the front as a defense as she spoke with a somewhat nervous voice. “Did I forget something, sir?” She looked up at him with a deceptively innocent look in her blue eyes. 

Mr. Agreste gave her a warning look, seeing through her act of ignorance. “You know perfectly well why I'm here, Nathalie. Now stop playing games with me and open the damn door!”

“I think you’ll find that the door is open. However, if you really need to talk with me, you can make an appointment, just like everyone else.” And then, Nathalie shut the door in Mr. Agreste’s face, feeling self-satisfied, and ignored his furious knocking and calls to her cell phone as she finished off her nightly routine. By the time she finished brushing her teeth she thought he'd given up and left. 

A loud thud and a crash on her balcony as she was slipping between the sheets and settling into bed disabused her of this notion. She clambered back out of bed and made a mad dash back into her living room to find Hawk Moth standing on her balcony, glaring angrily through the plate-glass door at her as he dusted the remnants of what had been a potted aloe off of his suit. She let out an involuntary cry of dismay and opened the door, grabbing him by the sleeve and pulling him inside. 

“What on Earth do you think you're _doing_?” She hissed angrily at him. She stepped out on her balcony for a moment, careful of the shattered flowerpot, and glanced down at the street below, then across at the balconies of her neighbors. No one was staring or had raised up an alarm, but…

Hawk Moth’s arms wrapped around her middle and yanked her back into her apartment, an even more foolhardy move than the stunt he'd just pulled to get her to let him in. “If this is the only way to get a moment alone with you…” he growled against her ear as he shut the door with one hand, holding her tight against his body with the other.

“That was the stupidest idea you've ever had,” she said weakly. All of a sudden, Nathalie was afraid. It was easy enough to take petty revenge on her boss when he was just Gabriel Agreste, fashion icon. But somewhere, over the course of her game, she'd forgotten that he was also Hawk Moth, a powerful supervillain hellbent on terrorizing Paris. 

He released her suddenly and backed away from her, to the opposite side of her living room. “Nooroo, dark wings fall.” There was a flash of light, a flash of purple as the small creature she had only ever seen glimpses of hid. And then Mr. Agreste, no… here in her home he was just Gabriel, held up a disarming hand in her direction. “I'm sorry, Nathalie. I didn't mean to frighten you.”

“It’s fine.” She fiddled with the sleeve of her silky pajamas, all too aware suddenly that, while they were a very modest cut, they did very little to hide the fact that she didn't wear anything under them. “I'm going to get my robe.”

“Of course.” He stepped aside and allowed her to go.

Nathalie paused in her bedroom for a moment, trying to calm her frantically beating heart. It was bad enough that her boss was here, in her apartment, after what had transpired the last time he'd been there. It was temptation and terror all at once to have him there again. 

After all, she knew what he looked like naked. She also knew a surprising amount, given the single night they'd spent together, about what he liked in a partner, what he disliked, and what drove him wild in bed. It had been hard enough remembering to call him Mr. Agreste after one night like that. Another would have him become Gabriel in her mind for good.  
  
She shook her head, trying to clear it. It was just pesky pregnancy hormones, she decided, fogging her mind and clouding her judgement. Nadja had been helpful enough to her about that. 

She tied her robe tightly around her waist and returned to the living room. Her company had shoved himself into a corner of her couch, apparently trying to take up as little space as possible, hunched forward, with his forearms resting on his knees and his hands clenched tightly around one another. It would have been almost comical, had he not looked up at her, worry and anxiety etched in every line of his face. 

The dignified and collected fashion designer was as much a persona as the perfect personal assistant self she put on each day, she knew that. But at that moment, it struck her, just how different the two were. Gabriel Agreste, the man who put on dignity and coldness like a shield because he did not know how to function without them in place. But when the shield was down, he seemed… almost small, vulnerable.

“Nathalie. I… have not treated you well.” He started cautiously, picking his words carefully.

An auspicious beginning. Nathalie wanted to snort with laughter and roll her eyes. Instead she wedged herself into the opposite corner of her couch and tucked her legs under. She pulled her robe even tighter around herself before responding. “No. You haven’t.”

“I should not have been so insistent that we never speak of… what happened. Between us, I mean.” He cleared his throat and turned his gaze back to his hands, the hunch of his shoulders becoming more pronounced. “Did I…” A muscle twitched in his jaw, and he sighed. “Was I really your first, Nathalie?”

Nathalie did laugh at that, and he looked back at her, startled and, she thought to herself, perhaps a little bit offended. “You really don’t remember much of what happened that night if you think you were my first, sir,” she said dryly once she got her laughter back under control. Another snort of it escaped her, all the same. “My first. Really. I’m _thirty-four_ , sir. I’ve had my fun, believe me you were far from the first man in my bed.”

“That’s a… a relief,” he managed, though the offended expression remained on his face in the form of a slight scowl. 

“You were really worried about that?” Nathalie studied him with a frown, realizing he hadn't been joking.

“What you said yesterday… about me being the only man you'd…”

“In a while." Nathalie amended, "you're the only man I've slept with in the past couple of years. There have been plenty of women.”

He shot her another startled and slightly flushed look.

“And that’s a little bit more than my boss needs to know about my sex life, I think.” Nathalie found she was mirroring his posture unconsciously, found her gaze drifting down to the hands she’d clenched together in her lap. 

They sat there in silence for a few long minutes before Mr. Agreste opened up the conversation again.

“Really, no tricks, what do you need from me, Nathalie?”

She considered quietly for a minute more, and he waited patiently. “I was going to say nothing, but that’s not true. I…” She looked up from her lap, met his eye. “I need your word that you’ll give me a good reference. I’m going to be looking for a new job. I don’t think… I’ve been with you for more than a decade, sir, and it’s shaped my life, in good ways, mostly, but also…” She sighed and finally spoke again. “I need a change. Being around you, day in and day out, has lead to some unhealthy patterns for me, I think. I need…”

“You need to leave me.” Gabriel’s voice sounded bereft as he finished her sentence. 

‘No, not Gabriel,’ she reminded herself, abandoning her earlier resolve. ‘Mr. Agreste.’ 

“You need to leave Adrien?”

Oh! How unfair of the man, bringing his son into it. Nathalie had been Adrien’s tutor, his coach, the closest thing he’d had to a mother in his life since his own mother had disappeared.

“I think I have to. There’s no other way this works. Not unless…” She stared intently at him, the rest being communicated clearly despite the silence between them. There was no other way, not unless he was willing to commit to this fully and give up on the idea of Emilie ever returning. Gabriel swallowed grimly

“I’ll make sure you have the reference you need,” he said, hoarsely. “And… money?”

“No. I don’t want your money. After all, how would you ever explain that if…” If he really did find a way to bring Emilie back, one of these days. Nathalie shook her head. “I have plenty of savings. I can handle expenses on my own.”

Mr. Agreste let out a harsh little laugh. “You certainly don’t spend your salary on clothing. I’ll have to replace you with someone just a little bit more fashionable.”

“You do that, sir.”

He stood abruptly, and, without another word, went to her door, unlocked it, and left.

Nathalie sat on her couch for a long time after he was gone. Her tears, no longer willing to yield to her will, escaping out of her eyes and trailing down to stain the fabric of her sleeve.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And we repeat.... Gabriel is a dumbass

He had been foolish, to go to Nathalie’s apartment like that. But Gabriel hadn’t been thinking. He had simply wanted to be near her, had wanted to hold her close to him and never let go, to… he tried to clear his head.

It had been a thrill, those few blessed moments he had held her tightly in his arms until he had felt her fear, pounding harsh and thick through her body. It had been…

What the hell was he doing, thinking about Nathalie like this? He was a married man. He was…

Gabriel paced his office, every nerve strung tight. He was lusting after his assistant, that’s what he was doing. Lusting after her and hating himself for every bit of it.

He flung himself into a chair and slumped backwards, removing his glasses and rubbing his free hand over his face. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t Nathalie, herself that he was lusting after. Oh, he was attracted to her, no doubt about that, but that had nothing to do with the true allure of what she represented.

Family, a chance to do this all over again, and to do it right this time. To have a family that was whole again.

But, he reminded himself glumly, Nathalie was not Emilie. And it was not fair of him to project the way he was missing the way his wife had made their family whole onto her.

A damning realization, that was. Was that what had drawn him to Nathalie that night? The sense that he was incomplete without his wife, and Nathalie’s devotion to him would do in his moment of desperation?

No.

No, it had been sheer drunken lust that had brought him to Nathalie that night. He was certain that had been all it was. Lust and despair and alcohol. A potent combination at the best of times, and at the worst… Well, at the worst he forced his way into his assistant’s apartment and impregnated her. 

He wished he could remember how that night had gone. Perhaps it would explain why Nathalie wanted so desperately to leave him now.

Gabriel let out a harsh at that thought. Did she really need a reason to leave? She had stepped in admirably when Emilie had first taken ill, taking over more and more of the day-to-day business of keeping his company running… and putting in the extra hours such work made necessary. And, when Gabriel had not been able to face the world after Emilie had slipped beyond his grasp, Nathalie had kept doing it, and had seen to Adriens needs as well. By now she was probably teetering on the edge of burnout, and would no doubt have plenty of reasons to hate him and want to get far, far away from him.

She had a hell of a work ethic, he had to give her that. To keep up with everything he relied on her for, everything Adrien relied on her for…

Adrien. He needed to talk to Adrien.

He needed to sleep.

He needed…

The next thing he was aware of was Nathalie shaking him by the shoulder and handing him his glasses. “Thank goodness for plastic lenses and anti-scratch coatings,” she said, a hint of humor in her voice. “These were on the floor, sir.”

“Thank you, Nathalie.” Gabriel slid his glasses on and tried to sit up. He winced. “Oh.”

“Yes, I imagine your back is quite stiff after falling asleep in a chair.”

“Adrien is off to school?”

“Almost an hour ago.”

“I see.”

There was a moment of silence where he could not bear to look up at Nathalie, though he could feel her, standing at attention next to the chair.

“Would you let me know when he returns for lunch? I’d like to eat with him,” Gabriel said finally, taking a pen in his hand.

There was a small sound from Nathalie—not quite a gasp, but a startled inhalation of breath—but her voice was even and calm when she responded. “Of course, sir.”

“I don’t have any meetings that would conflict with this?”

“No sir, most of your meetings are scheduled for this afternoon.”

“Very well. That will be all.” He glanced up at her finally and took in her calm, but serious expression. “Thank you, Nathalie.”

She inclined her head a bare inch. “You’re welcome, sir.” And then she left his office without looking back; the door closing behind her with a click of finality.

It was hard to believe that the difficult conversation he remembered from the night before had happened. Hard to believe that he had held her in his arms, and she had been so warm and soft and perfect in them for the moment before he had realized that she was terrified of him.

Hard to believe that here he was, about to let her go.

But he was. Because there was nothing else he could give her.


End file.
